They clearly don't need one to sell their products if the hype generated by this thread, and the backorder on the DX50 is anything to go by.

Contrast this to Apple who need one of the biggest advertising budgets in the world to move their products ;-)

Inb4 Apples & Oranges

I actually disagree with that.. I think the lack of information and marketing strategy ie. no precise date of release is a trait of poor organisational/management skill of a company.

Especially if there is so much hype around a product, the information that they put on their website should really be up to date (not like how it is currently, with information that dates to May 2013).

I am actually quite surprised about this from iBasso, they are making great products but not doing great in their release of information (at least on iBasso.com, there are more information are available on their chinese mini-audio website, but still no accurate release date)

All things considered, iBasso not providing any information of the DX90 until the launch date and availability, is somewhat similar to Apple's practice. It's just the many leaks by third parties that made the information available on the internet and hence, is unofficially official.

Though agree the website could be better managed to make it and its information on products look more current.

If the firmware's behavior as far as handling of the UI is same as DX50, at least we know how it'll behave therefore cutting down on the learning process. Would have been nice if there was a little physical distinction from DX50 vs DX90 other than the swappable back panel.

I am not sure, note that we can't tell for sure how exactly those components are connected as we don't see the other side of the board, some are surface mount connections others go right through the board. As long as they use thin film resistors or better still metal film resistors and follow ESS tech recommended design guidelines, that should be good. I am really wondering what op amp they are using to drive the 3.3V to the analog section of the Sabre DAC. I just hope they are using the NS AD797 op amp but at first sight it might be one of the LME op amps (the picture on page1 is really fuzzy). This part is quite critical to optimizing the THD and SNR performance.

I am not sure, note that we can't tell for sure how exactly those components are connected as we don't see the other side of the board, some are surface mount connections others go right through the board. As long as they use thin film resistors or better still metal film resistors and follow ESS tech recommended design guidelines, that should be good. I am really wondering what op amp they are using to drive the 3.3V to the analog section of the Sabre DAC. I just hope they are using the NS AD797 op amp but at first sight it might be one of the LME op amps (the picture on page1 is really fuzzy). This part is quite critical to optimizing the THD and SNR performance.

I think there was a schematics of the opamps in this thread. Don't count on me though.